The Stinger
by Jenny wrens
Summary: Taken from the episode called The Stinger. The beginning of story is similar to actual episode with some creative freedom. In episode, Lucas complies and slows the Stinger down. My version, Lucas continues speeding up the submersible. Father/son relationship Kristin/Nathan moments. Lucas being Lucas :)


_**This fanfiction takes place during the episode called The Stinger. The beginning of the story is quite similar to the actual episode with some adlibs. I wanted to follow the story line somewhat but with a few slight differences. In the aired episode, Lucas complies and slows the Stinger down. In my version, Lucas continues speeding up until Captain Bridger gets his attention more firmly. The changes will allow me to play with the characters a bit. I love the little family formed between Kristin, Nathan and Lucas. My story will concentrate more on the father/son relationship between Lucas and Nathan, as well as the parenting relationship between Kristin and Nathan. The episode touched on some of these areas but never fully explored them. This isn't exactly how the episode went, but I hope you enjoy it anyways. I'm not a science person so I've just tried to use the terminology and technology mentioned in the episode as best as I can.**_

 _ **Title: The Stinger - Part One**_

Captain Bridger and Katie Hitchcock sat in the Sea Crab watching Lucas test drive the new prototype high speed sub on the small launches' monitors. Bridger was impressed but also nervous about the young teen driving the sub in the open water. Lucas tended to throw caution to the wind in these situations. It was perfectly natural for a 15 year old boy to become a dare devil when put behind the wheel of anything. While Nathan has originally chosen Ortiz to test the sub, Lucas had insisted that it was his invention and he should have the chance to try it out. Reluctantly Nathan allowed him the chance. Nathan hoped he wouldn't live to regret his decision.

"Whew, that's fast. Good work," commented the captain impressed. Katie smiled and nodded thinking of all the hard work she and Lucas had done creating the prototype.

"Thank you, sir. I think we've conquered the draft problem. It can go faster; hold your breath."

"I've been holding my breath since Lucas got in that thing," replied the captain with a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Ok, Lucas, give it a little more throttle."

Lucas smiled and gave the sub more throttle with excitement. The sub closely resembled an aquatic animal with a tail similar to a dolphin. The sub dove and spun in circles as Lucas steered it gleefully in the open water. It was like a dream ride…better than Lucas had envisioned it to be. Being that he was only 15 years old and on board a submarine, Lucas hadn't even had the chance to drive actual cars on land but the mini sub more than made up for it. He squealed as it spun around and around in the water. It was better than any ride he had ever been on in any amusement park and to think he, Lucas, had had a hand in building it. He was so proud of how well it was working.

"Wha ha! Unbelievable! This is such a great ride," he said bursting with pleasure. Nathan frowned looking at the monitor, feeling his blood pressure rise at the teen's reckless display.

"Hey! Stop the hot-dogging, Lucas!" commanded Nathan sternly.

"Aw, come on, Captain. We designed it just for this," smirked Lucas still exhilarated from driving the sub.

"It's a prototype of a prototype. It's held together with bailing wire and duct tape. Now cut the acrobats!" smirked Captain Bridger hearing the boyish excitement in Lucas' voice. Nathan looked at Katie, and they both shared a smile. Lucas was definitely a typical teenage boy despite his intelligence. Sitting in that sub, far away from adult intrusion, Lucas was in his element.

"Yes, sir," stated Lucas still grinning from ear to ear. The prototype was amazing and working even better than he imagined.

"Remember, we are testing speed, Lucas, not manoeuvrability," reminded Katie refocusing the teenager. Lucas nodded and tried to focus on the task at hand. He was supposed to be showing Captain Bridger the velocity of the high speed sub. Lucas cleared his throat softly and looked at his speedometers.

"Um…ok, it's showing ninety-five," he said becoming more professional.

"The speedometer's way off, I got you at one ten," replied Katie.

"It'll do one fifty easy," stated Lucas seriously.

Inside the sea crab, Nathan felt his temper rise a little. He shook his head, raising his eye brows and staring at the screen in front of him.

"Now, come on," he stated with warning his voice.

"Captain," Lucas said expectantly, his tone of voice revealing pleas to be trusted to know what he was doing.

"Hydrogear lab is supposed to have tested it to one twenty, sir," said Katie looking at the captain also silently pleading that he would allow them to give the sub a good solid test.

"That's what their press releases say. All right, one twenty, but no more than that," agreed Nathan feeling compelled by both Katie and Lucas. He still didn't feel comfortable with it but resigned himself to the fact that they both wouldn't give in until he relented.

Inside the small sub, Lucas grinned widely literally bouncing up and down in anticipation.

"Say thank you, Lucas, Captain's giving you one twenty," said Katie still smiling and knowing how much Lucas was enjoying the moment.

Lucas listened for Katie to give him her mark and heard the captain's comment to go in a straight line with no turns. He rolled his eyes slightly but repeated the captain's orders. He proceeded to pick up speed and just as he did, the small sub began to shimmy and waiver a bit. Katie continued to count the speed up as Lucas increased the throttle. Within a few minutes, the shimmying stopped, and the vessel began to smooth out into a nice even ride.

"It shimmied a bit but has smoothed out now. Very cool," commented Lucas feeling quietly impressed by the vessel.

"Lucas, I want you to slow it down anyways," commanded the captain firmly.

Lucas sighed in disappointment. He really wanted to see if he could get the speed they projected on the vessel. The captain was being overly cautious, and Lucas knew it was because he saw him as a boy and not a man capable of making wise decisions. His first instinct was to nod and obey the captain, but in a moment of impulsiveness, Lucas increased the throttle further increasing the speed. If the captain could see the true potential of the Stinger, Lucas knew he would be impressed.

"One twenty five, One thirty, One thirty five," counted Katie raising her eyebrows and looking at Captain Bridger with concern on her face. For some reason, Lucas had decided to take the speed into his own hands disregarding the captain's orders. "One forty."

Nathan growled under his breath. Lucas was picking a fine time to be a show off.

"I said slow it down now, Mr. Wolenczek!" commanded Nathan sternly raising his voice slightly, irritated with the boy.

Lucas heard the urgency and firmness in the captain's voice and began to decrease the throttle. He instantly felt remorse for his decision to disobey the captain. Thoughts ran through his head thinking what Captain Bridger would say to him when he saw him face to face. Great, he thought to himself. The captain would probably ground him to his quarters again. Suddenly, Lucas was jerked forward, and he heard what sounded like an explosion behind him. The speed sub began to spin out of control. With horror, Lucas began to shout for help. The spinning was making him feel queasy and terrified. Abruptly, the vessel jerked forward, and Lucas bashed his head on the side panel. Everything went dark.

Inside the sea crab, Nathan and Katie shouted Lucas' name as they helplessly watched the sub spinning out of control with Lucas inside. The sub jettisoned out of view causing them to lose both audio and visual contact with the vessel. Bridger quickly contacted seaQuest ordering the bridge crew to scan the surrounding area for a location of the vessel. Katie and Nathan silently waited with baited breath as the sea crab quickly travelled back to seaQuest. Time seemed to stop for everyone. They were all waiting to hear from Lucas and the pain of uncertainty settled like fog.

Nathan pictured the blonde haired teen in his mind's eye. He had grown to love the boy like a son. He didn't understand why Lucas' father had put him on Seaquest and at first, hadn't been keen on the idea of being the teen's guardian. It hadn't taken long for the kid to steal his heart. Lucas graduated from Stanford University at the top of his class and was a highly intelligent person. More than that, he was a lovable kid with plenty of personality. Admiral Noyce had told him that Lucas had behavioural problems which were why Lawrence Wolenczek wanted him on seaQuest. Nathan hadn't seen anything of the sort. Sure, Lucas was known to be arrogant and difficult but what 15 year old boy wasn't. Most of the time, he was an asset to the vessel and extremely useful to the whole crew. There wasn't one officer onboard that didn't like Lucas.

Nathan frowned at the thought of something happening to Lucas. The kid just had to pick now to disobey orders, thought Nathan. The last time Lucas had picked a moment of disobedience was when Cleo was onboard. Lucas had nearly been shot that time. Perhaps he had been too easy on the kid when disciplining him. It had been so long since Nathan parented a teenager, but he thought they had come to an understanding. Nathan's felt so helpless waiting. If Lucas was okay, the captain planned to shake some sense into the boy.

"Where are you, Lucas?" mumbled the Captain under his breath, wringing his hands with worry. A voice came over the radio suddenly.

"Captain, we got a fix on Lucas. He's on the beach," stated O'Neill with relief apparent in his voice. Nathan heard cheers coming from the bridge. Everyone of the crew breathed a huge sigh of relief. Katie visibly relaxed and smiled at Captain Bridger.

"Get a rescue launch to him immediately," ordered Captain Bridger relief flooding his face and voice.

Several hours later, Lucas found himself lying on a bed in Medbay with Dr. Westphalen stitching his cheek gently. She had been fussing and mothering him since Lt. Krieg had brought him back to seaQuest. Lucas was relieved to be back safe and sound. It had been frightening spinning out of control in the sub and then waking up on the beach not knowing where he was. A kind, older man had rescued him, activating his location device and applying pressure to his cheek. His cheek ached, as did his head. He was feeling woozy and anxious at the same time. Upon waking up, he remembered that he had disobeyed Captain Bridger's orders, and he knew the man wasn't going to be pleased with him at all. Had the intense speed made the sub malfunction? UEO had put up 20 thousand dollars for the prototype. How much trouble was he in now? Lucas eyed the doctor as she finished bandaging his cheek.

"Is there gonna be a scar?" asked Lucas making conversation.

"No, you'll still have your beautiful baby face," commented Kristin smiling at him. She looked at his bruised cheek and felt her temper flare. Why on earth would the captain allow a boy to drive an untested prototype? Kristen cast a glance at Captain Bridger as he entered the medical room over hearing the conversation. Katie quickly followed, relieved to see Lucas was relatively unscathed.

"I don't want a beautiful baby face, I want a scar," insisted the teenager perfectly serious and at the same time wanting to keep the conversation light hearted. He eyed the captain guiltily, but was relieved to see him.

"Next thing he'll want is a tattoo," said Nathan lightly, not knowing if he wanted to hug the boy or shake him.

"I'm getting a tattoo," stated Lucas firmly. The doctor and captain glanced at each other knowingly and continued staring at Lucas. Lucas listened as the two adults bickered about him. The doctor scolded the captain for allowing him to drive the Stinger. The captain defended himself mentioning that Lucas wasn't just a boy but a college graduate as well. Lucas was grateful that the captain seemed to be defending him. Lucas looked at Katie who stood on the other side of the bed in embarrassment and made a face. Katie smirked in sympathy. Lucas attempted to get up but was stopped by the doctor firmly which only seemed to make her more upset at the captain.

"Where the stinger?" interrupted Lucas suddenly.

"A party's out looking for the Gazelle now," stated Katie speaking for the first time since entering the room.

"I'm not calling it a Gazelle," insisted Lucas grimacing at Commander Hitchcock.

"And you're not calling it a Stinger," replied Katie softly.

"Yes I am!" argued Lucas obstinately.

"Not while half of its mine," stated Katie firmly, raising her voice.

"Well, MY half is the Stinger," snapped Lucas with determination.

Nathan had had quite enough of the bickering. He gave Katie and Lucas a stern look. Katie looked away awkwardly feeling embarrassed that she was bickering with the teen in front of her commanding officer.

"That's enough…both of you! This thing was built under the auspices of the seaQuest. This is my boat; I'll give it a name. Right now, I'm rather partial to calling it the contraption. Lucas, you're damn lucky that fisherman found you, so stay in bed as the doctor says. Commander, return to your station," said Nathan severely shaking his finger at both of their faces. Lucas and Katie looked surprised by the firmness in the captain's voice and dropped their chins silently. Katie nodded at the captain and bid a hasty retreat back to the bridge reprimanding herself for her absurdity with Lucas.

"As for you, Lucas, YOU really gave us a scare," continued the captain softly, his voice thick with emotion. "Once the good doctor has released you, you and I are going to have a little chat about hot-dogging and obeying orders." Lucas swallowed hard and attempted to explain himself only to be cut off by the captain's words to the doctor.

"Let me know if you have any more trouble from him, Kristin," said Bridger as he headed towards the door to leave. Nathan felt his temper rising and needed to get some air to clear his head.

"Oh, he won't give me any trouble Nathan, he's a college graduate," said Kristin with sarcasm in her voice, echoing the captains defence from earlier. Nathan stopped in his tracks and glanced at Kristen with a grimace. He knew that their conversation wasn't finished either. Kristen would have the last word, and Nathan felt like he wasn't going to like what she had to say.

"Uh…captain, he wasn't a fisherman. He said he was a dreamer," said Lucas suddenly remembering to share that piece of information. Captain Bridger looked at him sternly with an odd look on his face.

"A dreamer, well," stated Nathan raising one eyebrow curiously. On that note, he turned and left the room. Lucas sighed and turned his head to the wall. Captain Bridger was seriously ticked at him that much was for certain.

Kristin straightened Lucas' hospital gown thoughtfully and looked at the boy with affection. Every time she saw him, it brought out her maternal instincts. She just couldn't wrap her head around why the UEO would allow such a young teen on board. She instinctively knew he was brilliant, but it didn't matter how intelligent he was, he was still a boy. Intelligence did not bring maturity. The teen still had a lot to learn about life. Innocence radiated from him. Kristin stoked his hair kindly, and Lucas turned to look at her.

"I messed up, Doc," moaned Lucas sullenly. Kristen patted his arm, sitting on the chair next to him. She smiled sympathetically.

"It'll be okay, Lucas. Everyone makes mistakes."

"Ones that cost 20 thousand dollars?" asked Lucas trying to sit up again. His head hurt. A lot. The effort of sitting up made his head spin and his stomach drop to the floor. He lay back down again and sighed.

"There is no sense speculating on such things. You don't know if it was an operator error or just a glitch. These things happen sometimes, Lucas," replied Kristin kind-heartedly. Lucas closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Either way, it's still my fault. I shouldn't have pushed it so hard without knowing its…," began Lucas. Kristin raised her hand and shook her head to stop him.

"Hindsight is twenty- twenty. Let's just wait until they find it, and you can do some diagnostics. Don't beat yourself up, my dear, as it won't change anything," she interrupted.

"Yah, the captain can beat me up later," mumbled Lucas. Kristin laughed at the remark. Kids! He reminded her of her daughter, Cynthia, when she was the same age. All teenagers seemed to have a flair for the dramatic.

"Try to get some rest, Lucas. I'll come back and check in on you in a few hours. By then they will know something, I'm sure of it," Kristin replied gently. She stood up, and patted Lucas on the shoulder. "Make sure you stay put, and that's an order," commanded the doctor as she left the room to finish her work.

Lucas watched her leave before he attempted to sit up again. The room was spinning as he tried to gain his equilibrium. After a few minutes, he felt better. Standing up slowly, he glanced around the room looking for his clothing but didn't have any luck. He felt so frustrated. What happened to the Stinger? What was the explosion he heard? It made no sense why the increased velocity would cause the sub to go into a tail spin. Nothing in his research indicated any failure in the design. There was no way there was a flaw in his design. The Stinger was the perfect example of laminar flow. It was phenomenal. Somehow Lucas had to figure out what went wrong, and he hoped with all his heart that it wasn't a result of his careless increase of velocity. More than anything, he wanted to prove to the Captain that he was a competent crew member and not the kid the captain always saw when he looked at him. He grabbed the blanket on the Medbay bed and wrapped it around himself. After carefully looking around the room to see if anyone would see him, he slipped out the room.

Nathan left the Ward room feeling complete frustration. He had just finished speaking to Edger Gray and felt that the man was a pompous bureaucratic weasel. Lt Krieg and Ortiz had gone to the surface and discovered that the mini sub had been virtually stolen right from under their noses. Nathan wished he had never granted Lucas and Katie permission to compete in the competition in the first place. The Competition for the UEO contract for a high-speed single seat submersible was stiff and highly classified. Gray hadn't even let him speak with Admiral Noyce about seaQuest's sub being stolen because it wasn't classified a military emergency. Subsequently, they soon discovered that the mini sub had been disabled by an explosive fired from truck on land. Lucas had been lucky to survive. Nathan ran his hands through his hair feeling anger rising in him. SeaQuest was supposed to a scientific research vessel functioning to assist the UEO and surrounding areas not a military vessel. The whole situation was preposterous. Feeling an unexpected inclination to see Darwin, he headed to the sea deck deep in thought.

Lucas stroked Darwin's head and smiled. Darwin was one of his best friends on the ship. The dolphin seemed to follow him around the ship like a faithful dog. Whenever Lucas had any free time, he usually found himself playing with the loveable aquatic animal. Ben had jokingly put a name plate on the door of his quarters that said Marine Engineering. If no one could find Darwin, he was usually found hanging out by Lucas' room. Lucas had invented a vocal decoder that deciphered the clicks and whistles that Darwin made and translated them into English. The vo-corder allowed Darwin to communicate and so far he had learned over 125 words to date.

"I guess we both had the same idea huh, Lucas," said Nathan when he saw the boy stroking Darwin as he entered the sea deck. Lucas startled expression caused Nathan to smile kindly at the young teen.

"Hi Captain," said the boy softly not making eye contact. "Any sign of the Stinger yet?"

"I'm afraid not. I have some information for you however," replied Nathan as Lucas turned and sat on the deck of the moonpool still wrapped in the blanket from Medbay. Nathan couldn't help but notice Lucas was still in the gown from the medical unit. "I'm guessing Kristen didn't release you, did she?" Lucas shook his head and continued looking at the floor. Nathan sighed and eyed the boy in front of him. So many times he wanted to shake some common sense into the boy.

"Did you review the tapes?" asked Lucas. "Did the Sub fail because of velocity? Why can't they find it? I need to run some diagnostics on it. It makes…," rambled Lucas disappointment radiating in his voice. Nathan held up his hand to stop him.

"Someone fired at the sub, Lucas. It wasn't your fault," replied the captain gently. Lucas eyes widened at the news. Nathan continued to fill Lucas in on all he had discovered about the mini sub, including it being stolen. Lucas listened in disbelief. It was becoming more obvious to him that when it came to the UEO, he couldn't make a wick of sense of it. He had too many questions and no answers. Katie and he had worked for months creating the blueprints and building the Stinger. Who on earth even knew about it besides Admiral Noyce and Captain Bridger? The UEO contract must have been worth a bundle to make someone want to steal his prototype.

"We'll keep looking, Lucas, I'm sure the sub will turn up somewhere. In the meantime, you and I need to have a little chat about obeying captain's orders," said Nathan looking at Lucas sternly. Lucas gulped involuntarily knowing there was no way to escape this conversation. He looked at the captain and could see the strong set to his jaw. The captain was most definitely still upset with him for disobeying.

"I told you to slow down, Mr. Wolenczek, and in your head that meant speed up?" questioned Nathan austerely. Lucas opened his mouth to answer and then closed it again, shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Captain," replied the boy glumly. "I just wanted to show you how fast it could go…I…uh…." Nathan looked at the teen in front of him remaining stern in appearance. Nathan couldn't have the kid disobeying him and taking matters into his own hands. The teenager needed to learn discipline and to follow orders without question. SeaQuest was secure in every sense of the word, however if Lucas expected to be trusted, the captain had to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the boy would obey orders.

"I told you to quit the hot-dogging and slow down. You chose to speed up and in doing so, you directly disobeyed me. I need to be able to trust every member of my crew, Lucas. If you expect me to trust you, you need to prove it, son. You get upset that I treat you like a boy, yet when I give you a man's job, you act like a boy." Nathan stood up and put his hand on Lucas' shoulder firmly. Lucas looked down at the floor and remained still.

"I'm not sure how this is going to play out the next few days, but Lucas, you are not on good terms with me right now. I'm not sure what to do with you to be honest. Once we have ironed out this mess, I'm thinking of grounding you to your quarters for a week with no computers, music or video games," began Captain Bridger severely.

"But Captain," argued Lucas in dismay, envisioning the coming week devoid of anything interesting to do. It felt like sudden death overkill to him.

"I'm also thinking that this vessel could use a ship wide diagnostic and maybe even a viral sweep of the mainframe," continued Nathan looking soberly at the young teen. Lucas groaned, noticeably ill at ease by the consequence.

"Uh, Captain, I…" began Lucas softly.

"No, Lucas, you listen to me, and listen well. When I give an order, it's not to hear myself speak. It's for the benefit of everyone. You don't need to agree with my order to obey it, got it? I expect absolute compliance from everyone on board my ship period. What you did was dangerous. We had no idea how fast that sub could go; we only had the analysis of Hydrogear lab. It hadn't been fully tested, and for pete's sake, you're 15 years old, Lucas, and not a highly trained operator."

"I designed it, Captain. I know its capabilities!" snapped Lucas in his defence feeling irritated by the punishment that captain had dealt him.

"Hey now, you've got to admit, you were just second guessing if velocity was the reason the test failed, right?" stated the captain raising an eyebrow at Lucas' outburst. Lucas nodded. "Alright, then. So right now, you can head back to Medbay and accept your just desserts from Kristin for leaving without being discharged, and we'll discuss this some more later alright?" Lucas sighed and nodded again quietly. He knew there was no use arguing with the captain. The conversation was finished for now.

"I meant what I said in the Medbay; you really gave us a scare, Lucas," Bridger repeated, his voice becoming thick with emotion again. He embraced Lucas tightly. Lucas' anger melted, and he relaxed into the man's embrace. He had grown to love the captain like a father. Part of him wished his own father had hugged him more. His father was a highly intelligent, world renowned scientist and had little time for Lucas. Once his parents divorced, neither of them had any time to devote to him and it didn't help that Lucas wasn't a normal kid. He graduated from high school when he was 10 years old. He graduated from Stanford when he was barely 14 years old with a degree in Applied Science of Artificial Intelligence. However, his maturity didn't mirror his intelligence. He had a knack for getting himself into mischief. When he graduated, his father didn't know what to with him so he pulled a few favours and had Lucas assigned to seaQuest. It was the perfect place to stash him for three or four years, until he grew up and could be employed as a scientist with the UEO. As a result, Lucas felt unloved and abandoned. Captain Nathan Bridger helped to fill that void, and Lucas was grateful but not so much when it came to the parental discipline.

Nathan pulled away and clapped the boy on the back affectionately.

"Now then, back to Med bay on the double." Lucas nodded and headed off of the deck. Nathan turned around to see Darwin still hovering and watching him. He reached for the vocorder and switched it on.

"Lucas, Bridger pod," chirped Darwin nodding his head up and down. Nathan smiled and petted the dolphin on his melon head. The dolphin looked pleased at the attention and tossed water in the air.

"Yes, Darwin, he is."

"Bridger Lucas sad."

"Not really, Darwin. We just have to reach an understanding, that's all. Don't worry, we'll work it out."

"Bridger play," chirped Darwin.

"Not now, fella, I better get back to the bridge. Later ok?"

"It isn't easy being a parent is it?" said a familiar voice from behind Nathan. Nathan turned to see Dr. Westphalen walk over and sit down beside him. Nathan smirked and shook his head in agreement. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, Nathan. I was in my office and couldn't help overhearing," she further explained.

"That's alright, Kristin. I have to admit, I didn't think I would still be parenting at my age. And I never expected to gain an unruly adolescent on my ship. When I saw Lt. Kreig's name on my roster, I groaned at all the parenting I'd have to do with him," laughed Bridger. Kristin laughed as well at the remark.

"For what it's worth, I think you handled it well, Nathan. Lucas needs to learn discipline. Although don't you think a week is a little harsh?" Kristin said with concern.

"Ha, yes, it is and I don't plan to keep him locked up that long but HE doesn't know that," chuckled the captain with a twinkle in his eye. "I'll be sure to let him off for good behaviour." Kristin smiled at the captain.

"He's still so young; I just wish you hadn't have let him get in that thing. He had no business rushing around in that contraption. He's still a boy, and don't you dare tell me he's a college graduate, or I might have you relieved of duty, Captain," threatened Kristin in mock sincerity. Nathan chuckled and reached for her hand tenderly.

"I know he's still a boy, Kristin. He's just spreading his wings a little, and I want to give him the room to do that. He needs to feel like he is becoming a man and can be trusted with greater responsibilities. I admit I wasn't keen on him testing the mini sub either, but he convinced me he was trustworthy and I still believe he is," stated Nathan walking across the deck and picking up the blueprints for the mini sub, hand drawn by Lucas. "He deserves this chance to prove it to himself, Kristin." Kristin let out a loud sigh and nodded.

"So when they find that contraption and get it ready, you still plan to let Lucas drive it?" she asked with concern written all her face.

"Yes, I do. I trust his judgement when he isn't being controlled by his 15 year old self," commented the captain winking at her. Kristin looked at Nathan in astonishment and then sighed in defeat, shaking her head.

"Fine, Nathan," she relinquished. 'But if one hair on that child's body is harmed, I'm holding you personally responsible!" stated Kristin with conviction. Nathan saluted her in mock seriousness.

"Understood, sir," laughed Nathan with a mischievous grin on his face. Kristin crossed the room and smacked him affectionately. Nathan took her in his arms and kissed her passionately. The two enjoyed the quiet moment in each other's arms. It wasn't often that they had sea deck to themselves or even time alone together.

"Bridger Kristin, pod," clicked Darwin splashing water across the room towards them. They pulled away and laughed, looking at the friendly dolphin. It was almost like the animal was teasing them.


End file.
